Hannah Arendt

Barbara Sukowa (Europa) is German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt, who was sent by The New Yorker to cover the trial of Nazi war criminal Thomas Eichmann. Her resulting text, A Report on the Banality of Evil, is met by a wave of criticism when it theorises that anyone might be capable of evil. This biopic is also an examination of the lives of New York’s leading intellectuals amid the stark political climate of the '50s and '60s.

"Chronicling Arendt's visit to Jerusalem in 1961 to cover the trial of Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Nazis' genocidal 'Final Solution' during World War II, German auteur Margarethe von Trotta dramatises the process by which Arendt began to formulate what would be her most lasting, and controversial, contribution to contemporary political thought: the "banality of evil" - evil not as diabolical intent but as unthinking, almost offhanded ignorance of the consequences of one's actions. Using footage from the actual Eichmann trial and weaving together an involving narrative that spans three countries, von Trotta turns the often invisible passion of thought into immersive, dramatic cinema." (Toronto Film Festival)